Our focus on Easter should be on the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
It is one of the most, if not the most, important doctrine of Christianity.
Why do we want to confuse our children by portraying Easter as a time when a majical bunny rabbit hops around and spews candy eggs out of his butt?
It is pagan, ugodly, and unworthy of the seriousness of the occasion.
All of those things I mentioned, I used to support.
When I studied scripture carefully, I discovered they were contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ found in God's Word, IMHO.
Therefore, I changed my thinking to conform to God's Word, even if it means people who used to think the same way I did will now call be "liberal" just as I used to call those who held some of the same views I now do, "liberal".
I just follow what scripture says and hope I'm getting some of it right.
BTW, I am always willing to be convinced I'm wrong.
Just show me from scripture how that is so.
Who says that your description is what we tell our children when we have an Easter egg hunt?
It's a fun tradition for the family that has to do with the holiday - not the remembrance.
It's like when I was growing up, we always had hidden chocolate eggs, a basket of candy, a leg of lamb dinner, all at my grandparents house.
Was that wrong?
No.
It was part of our family time together.
Maybe your family prefers to be all somber on Easter but we as a family love to enjoy each other, play some games and create memories.
We also remembered the resurrection, spent time in prayer as a family and thanked God for the gift of life that He gave us.
We don't do the "Easter Bunny" or anything like that.
As a matter of fact, my 7 and 9 year olds JUST asked me the other day when we were in the supermarket what the Easter Bunny was!
So I certainly don't teach them about those parts of Easter.
:)
Hey, I happen to agree with you. I think way too often we let other things crowd out the significance of the day. It is the same with Christmas. Yes we faithfully and traditionally tell the "real meaning" of Easter or Christmas until that in and of itself becomes part of the tradition and loses importance. (Disclaimer added to note that terms like "we" are used in the generic sense and are NOT a jab, poke, or attack at anyone on this board).
I honestly believe that Easter especially needs to be a day where the focus is entirely on Jesus and not on anything else. I don't think it is very effective to spend 10 minutes or so telling the story of the resurrection and what that means and then turn around and put the focus on eggs and such.
To me, its revivals. It seems like those who have them think it's the only time the church needs to be involved in evangelism. Plus, I have been around pastors who act like we need to be at every service as a test of fellowship/orthodoxy. I also find their purpose confusing--as I have heard that revival should be for Christians, yet the meetings are heavy in trying to win the lost for Christ. And did I mention that there are evangelists who rate how effective their preaching is by the number of people who come forward/raise their hands during an endless singing of Just as I Am or some other related hymn.
I think you forgot to add.. along with pagan symbolisms and maintaining the name of 'Easter' (our current version) of which is also known as Ishtar, a pagan goddess. Her other names in other pagan regions were called among others, Astarte, Ostera, and Eastre - the last name is sometimes presumed to be where the spelling of Easter is derived.
You can find stuff almost anywhere but here is a link to one sourse - Christiananswers.com .
However those are the facts, but these are not my reasons for not celebrating nor calling this day - Easter like many others do. As was stated this is about Jesus and Him resurrected. Thus for me, it is Resurrection day or Resurrection Sunday. And we do celebrate it! Just not in the same manner as others typically do.
PLEASE NOTE:
I don't hold it against others who do the whole typical Easter thing but I do ask if they understand it's meaning. And if they do, I gently ask, then why do we as christians conform to how the world celebrates this day, after the same manner they celebrate it, when their meanings and symbols have nothing to do with Christ Jesus.
This is for them to think about not for me to pass judgment against them for do what they choose to do.
How is it confusing to my children and where am I telling them fairy tales and myths?
As I said, my children didn't even know who the Easter bunny was - at 7 and 9 years old!
The egg hunt and basket is tradition.
It's just like us having a large pancake breakfast whenever we can on Saturday.
It's just what we do and I don't think that we are confusing our children whatsoever.
You can ask them what Easter is all about and they certainly won't say that it's about a bunny pooping eggs.
Trust me on that.
Revivals notwithstanding, there are leaders who equate church-related attendance with Christian loyalty, dedication, and faithfulness.
And some seem to confuse that with church loyalty, dedication, and faithfulness.
That is to say, someone who has perfect or near-perfect attendance for the 3-4 functions every week, is more faithful/loyal/dedicated than someone who misses one or more of these from time-to-time.
Or, you can't be a leader unless you attend everything on the schedule.
I'm not making a case for being a haphazard church member or leader, but exactly what should be the test for attendance, or should there be a test?
Further, can a qualified man be an elder if he only attends MOST of the church's functions?
I am battling that, because my wife is in her mid-40s and suffers multiple health issues (asthma, diabetes, bladder issues, et al); thus she does not want to take a risk with pregnancy. Sadly I feel that certain organizations in our church only allow couples with children to fully participate.